On the final day of a big weekend of racing in Olympic Valley, California, the 2026 Broken Arrow Skyrace 23k serves up plenty of climbing, technical descending, and a staggered start time that will see the lead men and women finish at about the same time.
The second World Mountain Running Association Mountain Running World Cup race of the weekend — and the seventh of the series — runs 14.2 miles (22.9 kilometers) in a single loop around the mountains above Olympic Valley, totaling 4,500 feet (1,372 meters) of climbing. The first half is mostly up, and the second half is all downhill, except for the uphill parts — one of which is a 500-foot climb before a 3.5-mile plunge to the finish.
The final elite race of the 2026 Broken Arrow Skrace event starts at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Sunday, June 21, for the women, and 20 minutes later for the men.
That’s two days after the Friday Broken Arrow Skyrace Ascent, which is also part of the Mountain Running World Cup, and for the runners doing the Triple Crown, it’s a day after Saturday’s Broken Arrow 46k. Competing in the earlier races might be a bit of a handicap for the runners in this race, so we’ll do our best to point out those competing in the Ascent or 46k, too.
The Broken Arrow Skyrace has the biggest prize purse of any trail race in the world, with $150,000 spread out across the three main races. The 23k alone has a $102,200 prize purse, with $30,000 to the winners and money going 10 deep. That’s a lot!
The 2025 Broken Arrow 23k men’s start. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Read on to learn about more of the top runners, and you can check out how everything unfolded last year in our 2025 Broken Arrow Skyrace 23k results article. We’ll also be updating this article through race day with any last-minute changes. You can also check out the full 2026 entrants list.
Thanks to the World Mountain Running Association for supporting iRunFar’s 2026 Broken Arrow Skyrace coverage.
iRunFar will be providing coverage of both the Broken Arrow 23k and the Ascent. Be sure to check out our preview of the 2026 Broken Arrow Ascent as well.
2026 Broken Arrow 23k Men’s Preview
Race defending champion and curent Golden Trail World Series front-runner Elhousine Elazzaoui is back for a title defense. The Moroccan has been unbeatable to start 2026, and was mostly unbeatable for 2025, too. Typically running in a lead group until late, Elazzaoui is the best downhiller and the best kicker in the bunch. Top challengers again include Kenya’s Philemon Kiriago and Patrick Kipngeno. Taylor Stack, Mason Coppi, and Christian Allen are among the top American runners expected to run at the front.
Men’s Podium Contenders
Morocco’s Elhousine Elazzaoui is the best short-course mountain runner in the world right now. He won last year’s race in 1:43, and he’s won the Golden Trail World Series each of the last two years. Most recently, Elazzaoui won the Zegama Marathon and Ledro Sky Trentino on back-to-back weekends in May of 2026. Like last year, Elazzaoui will be in the 23k with fresh legs, as he is not racing the Ascent or 46k.
Elhousine Elazzaoui, the 2025 Broken Arrow 23k winner. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Kenya’s Philemon Kiriago is the 2025 World Mountain Running Championships (WMRC) Up and Down race winner and a two-time Sierre-Zinal champion, but he’s never won at Broken Arrow. In 2025, he was second in the 23k, four seconds behind Elazzaoui. In 2024, he was third behind Patrick Kipngeno and Eli Hemming. Kiriago was second at Ledro Sky Trentino in May of this year, over a minute back of Elazzaoui. Kiriago is signed up for the Ascent this year, too.
Philemon Kiriago taking second at the 2025 Broken Arrow 23k. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Kenya’s Patrick Kipngeno was third here in 2025, finishing 14 seconds behind Kiriago. Race-day decisions may change, but Kipngeno is also currently signed up for the Ascent, which he originally signed up for but didn’t race last year. Kipngeno won the 23k in 2024, when Elazzaoui wasn’t present, in 1:45. He’s best known for his uphill speed and won the 2023 and 2021 WMRC Uphill races in Austria in 2023 and Thailand in 2022. So far in 2026, he was fifth at Ledro Sky Trentino, his first race back from injury.
Patrick Kipngeno celebrates finishing third at the 2025 Broken Arrow 23k. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Taylor Stack had a breakout run in taking third at this year’s Zegama Marathon. He beat a lot of world-class runners to get on the podium there, though he was over seven minutes behind race winner Elazzaoui. Stack was sixth at the Broken Arrow 23k in 2025 and fourth in 2024, and he could outperform both of those results. He was also 12th at the 2025 WMRC Up and Down race. Stack is only signed up for the 23k.
Taylor Stack on his way to third place at the 2026 Zegama Marathon. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Christian Allen won the Ascent in 2025 and came back to finish fourth in the 23k — less than a minute behind race winner Elazzaoui. He was 13th at the Broken Arrow 23k in 2024, too. At the 2025 WMRC Uphill race, Allen was fourth and only eight seconds behind third-place Kipngeno. Allen was injured to start the year but won the Trail Alsace 50k and the Twisted Fork 15k in May 2026, and was third at the 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race at the Sunapee Scramble on June 7. Allen is again racing the Ascent this year.
Christian Allen on his way to the win at the 2025 Broken Arrow Ascent. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Mason Coppi
Mason Coppi should improve on last year’s eighth-place 23k finish. He won the 2026 Gorge Waterfalls 30k and then ran 2:15 at the Boston Marathon a week later. In 2025, Coppi was 14th at the WMRC Up and Down race, 52 seconds behind Stack. Coppi is only registered for the 23k. On June 7, two weeks before Broken Arrow, Coppi won the 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race at the Sunapee Scramble and beat Allen by almost two minutes.
Cam Smith is a perennial Broken Arrow runner. This year, he’s in for both the Ascent and 23k. In 2025, he was third in the Ascent and seventh in the 23k, in the latter, one spot behind Stack and one spot ahead of Coppi. In 2024, he was ninth in the Ascent and only 32nd in the 23k, while finishing fourth at the 46k in between. Smith doubled at the 2025 WMRC races, too, finishing 11th in the Uphill and 24th in the Up and Down races. This year, Smith won twice on June 7 at the GoPro Mountain Games in Colorado, championing both the 10k and Pepi’s Face-Off races. Earlier in 2026, he placed fourth, with top women’s entrant Anna Gibson, in the mixed relay ski mountaineering race at the Winter Olympics in Italy.
Cam Smith, the 2025 The Rut Vertical Kilometer winner. Photo: The Rut/Anastasia Wilde
Michael Selelo Saoli
Kenya’s Michael Selelo Saoli won the year’s first Mountain Running World Cup race, the São Brás Cross contest in Portugal. At the next world cup event, he was fifth at the 2026 Beijing Changping Uphill race and first at 2026 Beijing Changping Up and Down race. Most recently, he was third at Ledro Sky Trentino, too. In 2025, Saoli was sixth at the WMRC Up and Down race. He is also racing the Ascent.
Michael Selelo Saoli, the 2025 Chongli Mountain and Trail Running Festival Up and Down race winner. Photo: World Mountain Running Association/Marco Gulberti
Paul Machoka
Paul Machoka joins fellow Kenyans Kiriago, Kipngeno, and Selelo Saoli. He was third at the 2025 WMRC Up and Down race, and fifth at the 2025 Sierre-Zinal, too. In 2026, Machoka was second at the Beijing Changping Uphill race and third at the Beijing Changping Up and Down race, both Mountain Running World Cup races, and sixth at Ledro Sky Trentino. He is also racing the Ascent.
Paul Machoka on his way to third at the 2025 WMRC Up and Down race. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Other Fast Men
One thing you can count on, Andy Wacker will be in the lead at the start of the 23k. He’s a true any-distance, any-surface racer and just ran 29:01 for seventh in the professional BolderBoulder 10k road race. Wacker was ninth at last year’s Broken Arrow 23k and won the race in 2022. He is only racing the 23k.
Andy Wacker winning the 2022 U.S. Mountain Running Championships at the Whiteface Skyrace. Photo: Michael Scott
Tyler McCandless
Tyler McCandless appears to be targeting the Mountain Running World Cup this year. He was sixth at the Transvulcania Vertical Kilometer and seventh at the Beijing Changping Up and Down race, both world cup races. In 2025, he was fourth at the Broken Arrow Ascent and 26th at the WMRC Uphill race. On June 7, McCandless was third at Colorado’s GoPro Mountain Games 10k. For what it’s worth, McCandless might have the best marathon PR of the field. He ran 2:12 at the 2017 California International Marathon. He is racing the Ascent this year, too.
Tyler McCandless on his way to fourth place at the 2025 Broken Arrow Ascent. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Liam Meirow
Liam Meirow doubled at Gorge Waterfalls this year, taking second in the 30k and fourth in the 50k. He is also signed up for the Ascent.
Henri Aymonod
Henri Aymonod of Italy was third at the 2019 Broken Arrow 23k, fifth in 2023, and 17th in 2025. In the past year, he’s been 29th at the 2026 European Off-Road Running Championships Uphill race, first at the 2025 Kilometro Verticale Lagunc, and first at the 2025 Transgrancanaria Vertical Kilometer.
Henri Aymonod, the 2025 Transgrancanaria Vertical Kilometer winner. Photo: Transgrancanaria/Caros Díaz-Recio
Cesare Maestri
Italy’s Cesare Maestri finished second at the 2026 Italian Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race, and he was 17th and fourth at the 2026 European Off-Road Running Championships Uphill and Up and Down races. He is also racing the Ascent.
Cesare Maestri (left) on his way to finishing seventh in the 2022 WMRC Uphill race. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
More Fast Men
- Morgan Elliott – 6th 2023 Broken Arrow Ascent; 3rd 2023 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race. Also racing Ascent.
- Lars Hogne – 7th 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race; 1st 2025 Cranmore Mountain Race 10k. Also racing Ascent.
- Tate Knight – 3rd 2026 GoPro Mountain Games Pepi’s Face-Off; 2nd 2024 Pikes Peak Marathon. Also racing Ascent.
- Guang-Fu Meng (China) – 2nd 2026 Hong Kong 100k; 6th 2025 CCC
- Eddie Owens – 8th 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race; 2nd 2025 Big Alta 50k; 4th 2025 Tamalpa Headlands 50k
- Ares Reading – 2nd 2026 Canyons 25k; 1st 2026 Big Alta 28k. Also racing Ascent.
- Alexandre Ricard (Canada) – 13th 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race; 10th 2026 Beijing Changping Uphill race; 16th 2025 WMRC Uphill race
Guang-Fu Meng finishes second at the 2026 Hong Kong 100k. Photo: Hong Kong 100k
2026 Broken Arrow 23k Women’s Preview
Two-time defending champ Joyce Njeru of Kenya is back for a chance at a third straight win. U.S. runners Anna Gibson and Lauren Gregory are counted on as her biggest rivals, and Nienke Brinkman from The Netherlands will race after a nearly two-year injury cycle and a win at the recent 2026 Zegama Vertical Kilometer.
Women’s Podium Contenders
Kenya’s Joyce Njeru is the defending champ. She won the 23k in 2025 and was second in the Ascent. In 2024, she won the 23k and the Ascent. Njeru will double up on the racing again this year. On the big stage in 2025, Njeru was fourth at the WMRC Up and Down race, and in 2026, she already has six races in the books. Top highlights for this year include a win at the Transvulcania Vertical Kilometer, a second-place run in the Transvulcania Half Marathon, and a third-place finish at Ledro Sky Trentino.
Joyce Njeru, the 2025 Broken Arrow 23k winner. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Anna Gibson has been racing near Njeru for the last two years. In 2025, Gibson won the Broken Arrow Ascent and was third in the 23k. In 2024, Gibson was second at the Ascent and didn’t race the 23k. She’s signed up for both this year. Unlike Njeru, these will be Gibson’s first races of the year. She was, though, part of the fourth-place U.S. team in the ski mountaineering mixed relay at the Winter Olympics in February 2026. As with the Ascent, even with a little race rust, Gibson is among the race’s biggest favorites.
Anna Gibson on her way to third at the 2025 Broken Arrow 23k. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Lauren Gregory
Unlike Njeru and Gibson, Lauren Gregory is only signed up for the 23k. She was fourth last year in her only appearance at Broken Arrow. Later in 2025, Gregory won the Golden Trail World Series race in Mexico, placed 15th at Sierre-Zinal, and finished fifth at the WMRC Up and Down race. In 2026, she won the Gorge Waterfalls 30k and was second at the Canyons 50k. After that 30k, she didn’t start the Zegama Marathon and then was sixth at the USATF 4-Mile Road National Championships.
Lauren Gregory, the 2025 Ledro Sky Trentino Grand Finale winner. Photo: GTWS/Anthony Deroeux
Makena Morley
Makena Morley beat Gregory at the Canyons 50k. A 2:30 road marathoner, Morley is new to trails but has won everything she’s raced in the past year. In 2025, that was a victory at the Kodiak 50k, and in 2026, in addition to the Canyons 50k, she won Montana’s Don’t Fence Me In 25k. Like Gregory, Morley will only race the 23k.
Makena Morley, the 2025 The Rut Vertical Kilometer winner. Photo: The Rut/Anastasia Wilde
Élisa Morin
Canada’s Élisa Morin was 25th at the 2025 WMRC Uphill race and 10th in the WMRC Up and Down race. After that, she won both the Défi des Couleurs Uphill and Up and Down races in Canada on back-to-back days in October 2025. On June 7, Morin won the Sunapee Scramble, which also served as the U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race for U.S. runners. She, too, will race the Ascent before the 23k.
Élisa Morin, the 2025 Quebec Mega Trail 50k winner. Photo: Quebec Mega Trail/Olivier Ménard
Valentine Rutto
Kenyan runner Valentine Rutto has sometimes been great, and sometimes been well off the podium. She was only 18th at the 2026 Zegama Marathon and 42nd at the 2025 WMRC Up and Down race, but was fourth at the 2025 Trofeo Nasego, first at the 2025 Giir di Mont, and won both 2025 Mountain Running World Cup races in China. Rutto is racing the Ascent, too.
Valentine Rutto, the 2025 Chongli Mountain and Trail Running Festival Up and Down race winner. Photo: World Mountain Running Association/Marco Gulberti
Nélie Clément
French runner Nélie Clément was eighth at the 2025 WMRC Uphill race and seventh in the WMRC Up and Down race. Clément was third at the April 2026 São Brás Cross race in Portugal, the year’s first Mountain Running World Cup race, and then she was sixth and first, respectively, at the French Mountain Running National Championships Uphill and Up and Down races. Two weeks before the Broken Arrow Ascent, Clément was third at both the European Off-Road Running Championships Uphill and Up and Down races. She, too, is racing the Ascent.
Nélie Clément, the 2025 Grand Parcours Vauban Mountain Trail winner. Photo: World Mountain Running Association/Jonathan Wyatt
Maya Rayle
Maya Rayle was the 26-year-old surprise winner of this year’s U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race. Contested at the Sunapee Scramble, Rayle was the second woman and only seven seconds behind race winner, Canadian Morin, and she was minutes better than Courtney Coppinger and Tayler Peavey. Rayle is only signed up for the 23k.
Courtney Coppinger
Courtney Coppinger has already raced twice in this year’s Mountain Running World Cup. She was third at the Beijing Changping Uphill race and second at the Beijing Changping Up and Down race, finishing behind Njeru in both. She was fourth at the 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race at the Sunapee Scramble in June, too. Last year, on a larger stage, Coppinger finished 14th in the 2025 WMRC Up and Down race. She is also racing the Ascent.
Tayler Peavey
Tayler Peavey is a former collegiate teammate of Morley and is new to trails as well. Peavey was one spot and 15 seconds behind Coppinger at this year’s U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race as the sixth-place woman. She was second behind Gregory at this year’s Gorge Waterfalls 30k, too.
Tayler Peavey, the 2025 Twisted Fork Trail Festival 15k winner. Photo: Emily Cameron
Nienke Brinkman
The ceiling is high for Nienke Brinkman from The Netherlands. Up until a month ago, she was the course record holder at the Zegama Marathon. That time had stood since 2022. In 2023, she was sixth at Sierre-Zinal. Brinkman had a long-term injury and didn’t race again until this year’s Zegama Vertical Kilometer, which she won. She’s expected to race the 23k but not the Ascent. Her second comeback race was a little rougher. She was just 10th at the European Off-Road Running Championships Uphill race in June.
Nienke Brinkman, the 2022 Flagstaff Sky Peaks Race champion. Photo: Golden Trail Series|Flagstaff Sky Peaks Race|Jordi Saragossa
Other Fast Women
Jade Belzberg of Canada was seventh here in 2025 and second in 2024. She races the Ascent, too, and was third in 2025. In 2026, she dropped at the Black Canyon 100k and was eighth at the Gorge Waterfalls 30k.
Jade Belzberg working hard to take third at the 2025 Broken Arrow Ascent. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Tabor Hemming
In 2024, Tabor Hemming was third at the Broken Arrow 23k. She was eighth in the Ascent that year, too. After not racing here in 2025, Hemming will double both races again. So far in 2026, she’s won the Rothrock 25k and the GoPro Mountain Games 20k.
Tabor Hemming en route to winning the 2022 U.S. Mountain Running Championships at the Whiteface Skyrace. Photo: Michael Scott
Marie Nivet
French runner Marie Nivet has raced in both the Mountain Running World Cup and the Golden Trail World Series in 2026. She was 24th and ninth, respectively, at the 2026 European Off-Road Running Championships Uphill and Up and Down races, eighth at the 2026 Ledro Sky Trentino, and fifth at the 2026 São Brás Cross. In 2025, she was 11th at the WMRC Up and Down race. She is racing the Ascent, too.
Jazmine Lowther
Jazmine Lowther of Canada is one of the few racing all three events over the weekend, so she’ll show up to Sunday’s event with a bit of fatigue in her legs. Lowther was third at the 2026 Madeira Island Ultra Trail and had a successful 2025, where she placed fourth at the Trail World Championships Long Trail, eighth at OCC, and fourth at the Speedgoat 50k.
Jazmine Lowther on her way to fourth at the 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Sara Willhoit
The U.K.’s Sara Willhoit is racing the Mountain Running World Cup this year. She was eighth at the Transvulcania Vertical Kilometer, fifth at the Beijing Changping Uphill race, and ninth at the Beijing Changping Up and Down race. In 2023, she was fifth in the Broken Arrow 23k and will race both races this year.
Allie Avatar (née McLaughlin)is a regular at Broken Arrow. She sometimes races the Triple Crown. This year, it’s just a double with the 23k and the Ascent. In 2025, she was 29th in the Ascent and eighth in the 23k. In 2024, she was third in the Ascent and fourth in the 23k. In 2023, she won the 23k.
Allie Avatar is greeted by her dogs after finishing eighth at the 2025 Broken Arrow 23k. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Camilla Magliano
Italian runner Camilla Magliano is racing a lot of the 2026 Mountain Running World Cup too. All this year, she’s been 11th at the Transvulcania Vertical Kilometer, fourth at both the Beijing Changping Uphill and Up and Down races, and eighth at São Brás Cross. She’s also racing the Ascent.
Camilla Magliano, the 2024 World Masters Mountain Running Championships Uphill race winner. Photo: WMRA/Marco Gulberti
More Fast Women
- Alexa Aragon – 10th 2025 Broken Arrow Ascent; 9th 2025 Broken Arrow 23k. Also racing Ascent.
- Jessie Diggins – Three-time cross-country skiing Olympic medalist, including one gold; seven-time Nordic World Ski Championships medalist, including two golds. Also racing Ascent and 46k.
- Pema Franchi Antelme (Ecuador) – 5th 2025 Broken Arrow Ascent; 23rd 2025 Broken Arrow 23k; 5th 2025 Mammoth Trailfest 26k. Also racing Ascent.
- Lara Hamilton (Australia) – 7th 2026 Transvulcania Vertical Kilometer; 7th Transvulcania Half Marathon; 11th 2025 Broken Arrow 23k; 9th 2025 Broken Arrow Ascent. Also racing Ascent.
- Janelle Lincks – 1st 2026 GoPro Mountain Games 10k; 4th 2025 Broken Arrow 23k; 8th 2025 Broken Arrow Ascent. Also racing Ascent.
- Erin Moyer – 3rd 2026 & 2025 Big Alta 50k; 3rd 2026 Gorge Waterfalls 100k; 2nd 2025 Mammoth Trailfest 26k. Also racing Ascent.
- Camila Noe – 6th 2026 Beijing Changping Up and Down race; 6th 2026 Beijing Changping Uphill race. Also racing Ascent.
- Oakley Olson – 8th 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race; 21st 2025 Broken Arrow 23k
- Sydney Petersen – 31st 2025 WMRC Uphill race; 10th 2025 & 12th 2024 Broken Arrow 23k; 4th 2025 & 12th 2024 Broken Arrow Ascent. Also racing Ascent.
- Rena Schwartz – 3rd 2026 U.S. Mountain Running Championships Up and Down race; 2nd 2026 Big Alta 28k; 3rd 2025 Pikes Peak Ascent; 1st 2025 Cirque Series Arapahoe Basin. Also racing Ascent.
- Alicia Vargo – 17th 2025 Broken Arrow 23k; 2nd 2025 Pikes Peak Ascent. Also racing Ascent.
Call for Comments
That was a lot! Who are we right about, and who’s going to outperform this list?
Janelle Lincks, the 2026 GoPro Games Spring Runoff 10k winner. Photo: GoPro Games
